Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada has been denied bail ahead of his deportation hearing in Britain.

Qatada, accused of giving spiritual inspiration to one of the 9/11 hijackers, has been in prison on and off for more than seven years.

For over a decade the British government has been determined to deport Abu Qatada, who has been described by a Spanish judge as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe.

He was re-arrested last month and the British government hoped it had removed legal obstacles which had been stopping him from being deported to Jordan to face terrorism charges.

Now a court has rejected the defence's application for bail to be granted pending one final appeal against the deportation ruling.

Rejecting the application, the judge ruled he would not release Abu Qatada ahead of the London Olympics because he did not want to compromise the Games' security.

The judge also said he would not be able to rule on the legality of Qatada's deportation until November, following a two-week hearing starting on October 8.

He said he accepted concerns from Britain's security services, detailed at the hearing, that Qatada might abscond if freed and damage their ability and that of the police to protect the public when their resources were in high demand during the Olympics.

Lawyers for interior minister Theresa May will have to convince the October hearing that she has overcome a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Qatada could not be deported as he would not receive a fair trial in Jordan.

In January the Strasbourg court said there was a risk that Jordan would use evidence obtained by torture against Qatada, and that without assurances to the contrary his deportation would be a "flagrant denial of justice".

Britain now says a 2005 deal with Jordan and more recent diplomatic reassurances will ensure that Qatada will receive a fair trial.

Qatada's lawyers had sought his release on bail, arguing the proceedings to send him back to Jordan would be lengthy and that it was wrong to keep him in prison during that process after already spending six years in detention without charge.

Jordan has found Qatada guilty in his absence of sending encouragement to militants in the Middle East state planning two bomb attacks in 1999 and 2000.

Before his re-arrest in April, Qatada had spent two months out of jail but under virtual house arrest at his family home in London after his release from prison following the European Court ruling.

Britain, which regards Qatada as a national security risk, says videotapes of his sermons influenced Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.